


Assets and Liabilities

by cielsdemon



Category: Kuroshitsuji | Black Butler
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-27
Updated: 2014-11-27
Packaged: 2018-02-27 03:52:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,487
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2678000
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cielsdemon/pseuds/cielsdemon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Under normal circumstances, Grell would have stopped to flirt, but these are not normal circumstances; her life is on the line. She drops her hand away from his chest and glances over her shoulder. “Eric, I don’t have time for you right now. Will is going to kill me.”</p><p>“Again?” Eric snorts. “Just another Tuesday, huh?”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Assets and Liabilities

**Author's Note:**

> I feel like I haven't written fic in 100 years. I finally _finally_ got my computer back up and running after spilling water all over it like a dope. So here is a celebratory fic! 
> 
> Idek what ship this is really bc Grell wants Will but ends up fooling around with Eric who is mentioned fooling around with Alan SO your guesses are as good as mine. Hopefully you enjoy it!

Grell is a dead woman.

 

Well, not yet. But she will be as soon as William finds out what she’s done. Which is why, currently, she’s doing everything that she can think of to get on his good side. If she’s being helpful and staying out of his hair, she’s less likely to be killed when she finally tells him. Hopefully.

 

She’s already brought him tea – twice – and both cups were made to perfection, if she does say so herself.

 

Now she’s perched on the edge of the seat across from his desk, inspecting her fingernails critically. She’ll need to touch them up soon, but –

 

“Damn,” William curses. She looks up.

 

“Darling?” Grell brushes off the glare William sends her way, almost certain his irritation is more with the pen in his hand rather than with her. “Did it break?”

 

“Obviously,” he sighs, rummaging around his desk for a new one. “Honestly,” he says, rising from his chair, “retrieving a new pen is going to put me at least five minutes behind schedule.”

 

Grell stands up instantly. “Oh! Don’t worry, love, I’ll fetch one!” She bolts out of the room before the confusion on William’s face can turn into suspicion.

 

She’s out of the room for only a second. A small gaggle of junior reapers are walking past William’s office, unaware of the danger in the doorway. Grell darts out a hand, grabbing one of them by the collar and hauling her close. “Give me your pen,” she hisses into the terrified girl’s face. Three pens instantly appear, held by three shaking hands, and Grell gives a saccharine smile as she lets go of the junior and grabs the pens. “Bye now.”

 

Grell slips back into the room and deposits herself back in the seat in front of William’s desk, brandishing the pens in one hand. “There you are. I even brought you a backup. And a backup for your backup. I know how you love to be prepared.”

 

William takes the offered pens with a raised eyebrow. “Sutcliff, what are you doing here? You’ve been hovering all day. Don’t you have work of your own to do?”

 

Grell shifts, one leg crossing over the other. “Nope,” she replies airily. “I’m finished for the day.”

 

“Mm. You didn’t answer my first question.”

 

“What was that?”

 

William sighs. He raises his eyes to meet Grell’s and fixes her with a glare. “What. Are. You. Doing. Here.”

 

Grell smiles, sharp teeth showing as she leans forward to brace her elbows on William’s desk. “I can’t spend a little quality time with my William?”

 

“I’m not _your_ anything.”

 

“Not yet,” Grell sings. William rolls his eyes and goes back to his work. He reaches toward the left side of his desk where he keeps completed files, presumably so he can reference them later, and Grell visibly panics. 

 

She jumps to her feet, uncharacteristically clumsy as she throws herself behind the chair she was previously occupying, creating an impromptu barrier between herself and William.

 

“Sutcliff! What in the world are you doing now?” Oh, William’s irritated. Perhaps now really isn’t the best time to tell him what happened.

 

Grell starts inching toward the doorway, head turning this way and that as she tries to walk without taking her eyes off of William. “Um, ah… I just remembered something I have to do!”

 

William’s eyes narrow. “Grell…” He braces his hands on his desk and stands. “What was the real meaning behind your attentions today?”

 

Laughing nervously, Grell combs a strand of her hair between her fingers. “Can’t a lady dote on the man she loves for no reason?” She gulps as William straightens behind his desk, his mouth a thin line. Her fingers curl around the doorknob. “I… Ah, that is – _someone_ may have…misplaced your paperwork from the last month.”

 

William’s eyes dart down to the pile of folders on the left side of his desk. Judging by the wide eyed look he gives them as he flips through the ones on the top, he knows there are several missing. While his attention is elsewhere, Grell snatches the opportunity and runs.

 

She darts out of the office and flees down the hallway, pushing junior reapers and interns out of her way. She doesn’t want to allow William the chance to catch up with her before she finds somewhere to hide.

 

“Sutcliff!”

 

Grell runs even faster. Her escape is interrupted when she slams into someone, and, even though she’s running for her life, she can’t _not_ take a moment to appreciate the finely muscled chest she’s just run into. Her hand slips over corded muscle under thin fabric before she looks sharply up into the bemused face of one Eric Slingby.

 

“Where are you off to in such a rush?” Eric asks, talking around the cigarette in his mouth.

 

Under normal circumstances, Grell would have stopped to flirt, but these are not normal circumstances; her life is on the line. She drops her hand away from his chest and glances over her shoulder. “Eric, I don’t have time for you right now. Will is going to kill me.”

 

“Again?” Eric snorts. “Just another Tuesday, huh?”

 

“No, I _mean_ it, I’m dead! Get out of my way before I –“ She pushes at Eric’s chest but he stands firm, looking down at her in amusement. “Eric!”

 

They both freeze when they hear a startled shout come from down the hall, and Grell turns slowly, dread heavy in her gut. “Oh no.”

 

William is less than thirty feet away, shoving alarmed reapers out of his way as he stalks down the hall.

 

“Oh, shit,” Eric says from behind her. The plant beside them spontaneously bursts into flame and Eric kicks its pot hard enough to send it rolling away from them and spitting flames and dirt in every direction.

 

Eric’s fingers are tight around Grell’s wrist as he hauls her away from the mayhem and into a nearby supply closet. Her back presses tightly to the door as Eric looms over her in the darkness. “What did you _do_ , Grell?”

 

“Me?” Grell splutters, still reeling from the fire and being dragged into the closet. “How did _you_ do _that_?” She absently notes that the cigarette that was previously tucked into the corner of his mouth is now suspiciously missing.

 

“Never mind me,” Eric huffs, leaning closer. “What did you do to him?”

 

She fidgets, fingers pulling through the ends of her hair. “I may have…accidentally, um…lost a month’s worth of his paperwork.”

 

Eric blinks, his jaw going slack. “You just gave _that_ man a month’s worth of overtime?”

 

“I didn’t mean to!” Grell hisses, defensive. Her eyes widen at the crash that comes from outside of their closet and she grabs hold of Eric’s shirt with one hand.

 

There’s distant yelling audible through the door and Grell takes a breath that turns into a quiet squeak when, outside, William shouts her name. Eric presses her further into the door, his hand clapped tightly over her mouth.

 

His breath is hot against her ear when he speaks. “You’re a liability, Sutcliff. You dragged me into this mess–“ Grell’s eyes narrow and her mouth opens under Eric’s hand. “–and I’ll probably get in the same amount of trouble as you. What’s stopping me from opening up this door and handing you over to Will to save my own hide?”

 

Grell shakes her head frantically, eyes wide. As soon as Eric removes his hand from her mouth, she’s pleading. “Please no, no. Don’t hand me over to him, Eric, you don’t know what he’ll do to me! I didn’t mean to do this. It was an accident!” She clutches at Eric’s chest with both hands. “Please, Eric, _please_. I’ll do anything, just don’t give me to him.”

 

Eric’s eyes flick down to her mouth, then back up to her eyes. Even in the dark, Grell can make out the smirk on his lips. “Anything?” he whispers.

 

Grell knows a proposition when she hears one. She snakes her arms around Eric’s neck and pulls him close, their lips barely a breath apart. “Anything,” she echoes, closing the distance between them.

 

Grell slides her legs around Eric’s waist when he lifts her into the air, both of his hands curved around her hips. Their kisses go from tentative to heated in an instant, all caution thrown to the wind as Grell dips her fingers into Eric’s waistband.

 

His fingers pull her shirt up slightly, pushing it out of the way, and Grell can’t even be irritated with him for wrinkling her clothes – his fingers feel too good.

 

She arches away from the door and into Eric, pushing him backward and knocking his head again the shelf behind them. He hisses a curse, one hand leaving her to rub at the back of his head. They both freeze, but the noise outside is loud enough to drown out any sound they make inside the closet. Still, they need to be quiet. Eric puts a finger to his lips and Grell nods in response before they go back to kissing.

 

Grell wastes no time in getting Eric’s pants open and sticking a hand down them. As much as she’d love to draw this out and really get a _feel_ for the appendage in her hand, they don’t have the luxury. She contents herself with the thought that, if she has anything to say about it, there will be a next time.

 

She sighs into Eric’s mouth when he finally gets his fingers around her and strokes. She’s expecting him to be clumsy, but it seems that he and Humphries aren’t just work partners, if Eric’s firm grip is anything to go by.

 

Grell moans and Eric hushes her, kissing her more firmly to shut her up as his fingers twist around the head of her cock. Grell gives his a sharp little tug in response and swallows down the moan he allows to slip through his lips.

 

At this rate, it's going to be over far too soon for Grell's liking. Eric’s palm is too warm and too tight for her to have any hope of lasting; the little bitten off sounds Eric keeps making against her lips and the curve of her jaw only add to the pleasure surging through her veins.

 

Surprisingly, Eric comes first. The low groan of her name he utters through the teeth clamped on her collarbone nearly sends her over the edge with him. As he spills over her fingertips, his wrist twists just right and Grell tosses her head back, panting his name.

 

“Shh,” Eric gasps, his fingers clumsy as they clap across Grell’s mouth. He’s not quite fast enough to muffle her shriek of pleasure as she comes across his fist.

 

Her legs are shaky when Eric puts her down and they have but a moment to put themselves back together before the closet door they’re huddled behind is torn off its hinges.

 

This time, Grell screams for an entirely different reason.

 

“William!” She scuttles backward, bumping into Eric’s broad chest. “Ha… Hello, dear.” She laughs nervously, eyes darting back and forth, searching for an escape route.

 

William looms over them both, expression murderous. “Sutcliff,” he bites out, grabbing a handful of her shirt. “My office. _Now_.”

 

Grell gulps as she’s dragged out of the closet, heels digging uselessly into the floor. “Now, Will, please – ah, darling. Don’t – don’t be mad, I–“

 

“Quiet.” With a snap, Grell wisely closes her mouth. “Slingby.” Grell glances over her shoulder, shooting Eric a sympathetic look. He looks like he wants to make a run for it, but William points his scythe at him threateningly. “Don’t even consider it. Follow me.”

 

The walk to William’s office is absolutely silent. Every reaper in the vicinity stays well out of the way as William drags Grell alongside him like a leashed dog and Eric drags his feet behind them, a fresh cigarette already in his mouth.

 

Grell’s starts protesting that William is stretching the material of her shirt beyond repair as she’s dragged into his office, but her protests fall on deaf ears. He shoves her into the seat she had occupied earlier and she falls into it with a huff, her fingers attempting to straighten her clothes.

 

Eric drops into the seat beside her and they both look worriedly at William. Grell won’t quite meet his eyes; her gaze falls somewhere around the knot of his tie as she picks at invisible lint on the knee of her pants.

 

“Place your scythe on my desk,” William orders. Grell sits up straight and opens her mouth to protest, but is silenced by a simple twitch of William’s eyebrow. He slowly leans over his desk toward her, his mouth a grim line. “Grell Sutcliff. Place your scythe on my desk. Now.”

 

Eyes averted, Grell swallows and nods silently. Her scythe materializes in her hand and she leans forward to place it gently on William’s desk. Pouting rather extremely, she glares up at William.

 

“You’re barred from field work for the next month. You’ll have no access to your death scythe and no contact with the human world whatsoever. If you step even a millimeter out of line, Grell Sutcliff, I will add on another month.”

 

It’s not good, but it’s not as bad as Grell thought her punishment would be. She sighs in relief and moves to stand, a flippant remark on the tip of her tongue.

 

“I’m not finished.” William’s voice stops her from rising to her feet and she winces, easing back down into her seat with a grimace. “Sutcliff, I’m also assigning you all of the paperwork of mine that you so carelessly lost. You’ll finish it, as well as your own work, by the end of the month.”

 

Grell gasps. “Will! I’ll never be able to finish all of that by the month’s end.”

 

William’s expression brooks no argument. “Then I suggest you get started.” Grell grumbles, arms folded firmly over her chest. William’s gaze cuts over to Eric who, so far, has been watching the proceedings silently.

 

“And you, Slingby. You nearly set the entire floor on fire with that stunt you pulled.” Eric looks proud. “And, did you or did you not have every intention of keeping reaper Sutcliff’s location hidden from me so she wouldn’t receive just punishment?”

 

“I did,” Eric answers easily.

 

William frowns. “I’ll give you one chance to convince me not to punish you just as harshly as I’ve punished Sutcliff. What do you have to say for yourself?”

 

Eric just shrugs, his head rolling to look at Grell. His eyes rove slowly over every inch of her body, from the tips of her toes to the top of her bright red hair. She flushes under his gaze, eyes going heavy lidded.

 

Eric’s grin is wide and smug when he looks back at William. “Completely worth it, boss.”

**Author's Note:**

> Join the party on our [tumblr](http://cielsbitch.tumblr.com)!


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